Experimenter effects in ESP research

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Abstract

The experimenter effect is considered to be a central problem
impeding the progress of research in parapsychology. A review of
the literature suggests most if not all the findings of ESP research
are experimenter dependent. The evidence for experimenter effects both
in psychological and parapsychological research is presented; that in
psychology is found to suffer front several methodological and statistical
flaws, while that in parapsychology is found to be impressive but largely
anecdotal and post-hoc. A critical appraisal is made of the 'interpersonal theory' of experimenter effects. Five possible factors or
areas of interaction which may mediate the effect are designated.
These are : experimenter expectancy, spontaneous subjective states,
experimenter personality, rapport, and experimenter psi. Hie evidence
for these mediating factors is presented in detail, along with the
hypotheses formulated from it and the research done to evaluate the
hypotheses. The research method involved a diverse program of pilot
and follow up studies and encompassed the testing of a special high
scoring subject by experimenters, group testing methods, questionnaire
studies, and experimenter comparison in the use of a sensory input
attenuation technique (the Ganzfeld). The results although equivocal
in some areas gave little support for four of the factors being as
critical as claimed. It was concluded that psychological factors
traditionally regarded as conducive to ESP, are probably not necessary
and sufficient factors for its occurrence. The fifth factor, that
of experimenter psi-mediation, received some support from a study of
'successful' experimenters. The theoretical implications of this
are discussed in full along with current process and field models of
ESP and some specific suggestions are made for further research in
this context.